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ROSCon 2023
New Orleans, Louisiana
October 18th - 20th, 2023
ROSCon 2023 will be held at the The New Orleans Hyatt Regency on October 18th through the 20th, 2023. ROSCon 2023 is a chance for ROS developers of all levels, beginner to expert, to spend an extraordinary two days learning from and networking with the ROS community. Get tips and tricks from experts and meet and share ideas with fellow developers.
ROSCon is a developers conference, in the model of PyCon and BoostCon. Following the success of our past events, this year’s ROSCon will be our twelveth ROSCon and held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Similar to previous years, the two-day program will comprise of technical talks and tutorials that will introduce you to new tools and libraries, as well as teach you more about the ones you already know. The bulk of the program will be 10-30 minute presentations (some may be longer or shorter) along with panel discussions, lightning talks, demonstrations, and workshops.
We aim for ROSCon to represent the entire ROS community, which is global and diverse. Whoever you are, whatever you do, and wherever you do it, if you’re interested in ROS, then we want you to join us at ROSCon. We encourage women, members of minority groups, and members of other under-represented groups to attend ROSCon. We expect all attendees to follow our code of conduct.
If you have questions, concerns, or ideas for ROSCon 2023, please contact the executive committee
We also welcome suggestions for what else we can do to encourage more participation. Contact us if you have ideas that you’d like to share.
Dates
ROSCon 2023 Key Dates
Call for Proposals circulated
April 7th, 2023
Workshop submission deadline
May 7th, 2023
Diversity Scholarship application deadline
June 11th, 2023
Proposal submission deadline
July 9th, 2023
Proposal acceptance notification
August 17th, 2023
Early registration deadline
September 3rd, 2023
Late registration starts
October 1st, 2023
Sponsors
Sponsor ROSCon 2023!
We are now accepting sponsorships for ROSCon 2023! Full details regarding our 2023 sponsorship benefits are listed in our sponsorship prospectus. We recommend that you claim your spot as soon as possible, booth space and sponsorship add-ons for ROSCon are limited. New for 2023 we’ve added a “Startup Alley” sponsorship level for emerging companies in the ROS community. Please see our sponsorship prospectus for full details.
Whether you’re ready to commit to a specific level or have a question or special request regarding the sponsorship program, please contact the ROSCon executive committee (roscon-2023-ec@openrobotics.org).
attend
Getting to ROSCon 2023
Travel to New Orleans
- Air travel to New Orleans is serviced by Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY). Train travel to New Orleans is supported by Amtrak’s New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal.
Hotel Information

The New Orleans Hyatt Regency is the official event hotel and conference center. We have reserved a block of rooms for ROSCon attendees. Additional information regarding hotel registration will be posted shortly.
CFP
As previously announced, ROSCon 2023 will be held in person in New Orleans October 18th - October 20th, 2023. ROSCon 2023 will be fully in-person, and remote presentations will not be considered. The core of the conference is (and always has been) content from the community, and this year, we’re looking for proposals for three different types of content.
- Workshops: As in 2022, we will offer workshops on Day 0 of the conference. The goal of the workshops is to provide space for participatory/interactive experiences between the presenter(s) and the attendees and the chance to go more in depth into a subject than a regular talk could allow.
- Talks: The standard presentation format is the talk, with the presenter(s) talking live about a specific topic, with a brief question period at the end, fitting into a 10, 20 or 30 minute time slot.
We are also planning panels, keynote speakers and of course, lightning talks. The conference program will be a combination of single-track and
General Content Guidelines
All topics related to ROS and ROS 2 are invited. Example topics include:
- New packages / frameworks
- Insights / improvements for existing packages
- Case studies on unique ROS deployments / use cases
- Developments for specific robots / sensors / platforms
- Competitions / collaborations / initiatives
- ROS in commercial / research / teaching environments
- Standards / best practices / development tools
To get an idea of the content and tone of ROSCon, check out the slides and videos from previous years. We cannot offer content that is not proposed! If there is a topic on which you would like to present, please propose it. If you have an idea for an important topic that you do not want to present yourself, please post it for discussion on ROS Discourse.
Review Criteria
All submissions will be reviewed by the program committee to evaluate:
- Relevance to the ROS Community - The proposed content should use ROS in a substantial way, but beyond that, the work must also be relevant and compelling to a general ROS audience. Writing a ROS driver for a specific piece of hardware is an excellent contribution to the community, but describing the intricacies of its firmware may not be relevant to this audience. Furthermore, content should be relevant to a global and diverse community.
- Quality of Content/Impact - We encourage proposals to contain big ideas with high impact. Proposals should have a demonstrable quality as opposed to being purely theoretical.
- Quality of Presentation - Articulating your ideas clearly and grammatically is a key prerequisite for giving a compelling live presentation.
- Originality/Novelty - Content should be original and not something that has already been heard before. Will this be the 41st talk on a particular topic at ROSCon? Or are you presenting something new?
- Open Source Availability - Because we are an open-source community, proposals for which the underlying code and other content is available under an open source license have a greater chance of being accepted. It is not a hard requirement, but proposals focused on proprietary systems should contribute in some other way to the community. Promises of future release are difficult to evaluate, so having your content released at the time of proposal submission is preferred.
Additional consideration will be given to balancing the subject matter and duration of presentation. We encourage proposals from presenters of all backgrounds and experience levels.
Workshop Submission Information
Workshop proposals must include:
- Title (maximum 70 characters)
- Presenter(s) (name, contact information, and affiliation)
- Summary - for public consumption, used in the program schedule (maximum 100 words)
- Description - outline the workshop and its goals, for review by the program committee. Describe the intended audience and what resources (if any) would be required. Please be sure to include enough information in your proposal for the program committee to evaluate the above review criteria.
📝 Submit your workshop proposal via this Google form 📝
Workshop submissions are due May 7th, 2023. The selected workshops will be published out no later than August 17th, 2023, and potentially earlier.
Talk Submission Information
Talk submissions are done using the Hot CRP submission software. You must create a Hot CRP profile and sign in to submit your talk.
Talk proposals must include:
- Title (maximum 70 characters)
- Presenter(s) (name and affiliation)
- Desired talk length (10, 20, or 30 minutes)
- Summary - for public consumption, used in the program schedule (maximum 100 words)
- Description - outline and goals, for review by the program committee. Describe the intended audience and what they can expect to learn. Please be sure to include enough information in your proposal for the program committee to evaluate the above review criteria.
- (NEW) Audio abstract - for review by the program committee. All talk proposals must include a (maximum) one minute recording of the presenter describing the content of the talk. It should be a single-take, responding as if a colleague asked what the talk was about. Please use either the mp3 or ogg file format.
- (NEW) Key URL/Twitter handles - Optionally include a single link/Twitter handles to be associated with talk in publicity materials. Only one URL will be included in the event program; please make the first URL in your list the most relevant resource for your talk. We suggest a link to the project’s source code or documentation.
📝 Submit your talk proposal using the Hot CRP website 📝
Talk proposals must be submitted by July 9th, 2023. The program will be announced August 17th, 2023.
If you have any questions/comments/firmware patches, please email roscon-2023-oc@openrobotics.org
Program Co-Chairs:
- Tomoya Fujita (Sony Research)
- Ingo Lütkebohle (Bosch Research)
Scholarship
ROSCon 2023 Diversity Scholarships
The ROSCon 2023 organizing committee aims for ROSCon to represent the entire ROS community, which is diverse and global. In addition to promoting technology that is open source, we strive to ensure that our community is as open and accessible as possible. Inclusion and diversity benefit the ROS ecosystem as a whole.
Whoever you are, whatever you do, and wherever you do it, if you’re interested in ROS, then we want you to join us at ROSCon. To help reduce financial barriers to conference attendance, the ROSCon Diversity Committee is offering a limited number of scholarships to members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the robotics community. Thanks to the support of the program’s sponsors, each scholarship includes:
- One complimentary conference registration;
- Three nights’ hotel accommodation; and
- A travel stipend (limited to those participants whose travel to the conference would otherwise be infeasible).
All other expenses (including any visa requirements) will be the responsibility of the participant.
Please note the following about the scholarship program:
- To maximize the impact of scholarship funds, scholarship recipients will be asked to share a room with another recipient. Under special circumstances alternative arrangements can be accommodated.
- Participants will be responsible for covering their travel expenses up front. The travel stipend will be provided on-site at the conference.
Eligibility
We invite applications from members of groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the robotics community, including but not limited to: women, people in LGBTQIA+ communities, people with disabilities, people from racial and/or ethnic minorities in the robotics community, and people from developing nations who may not otherwise be able to attend ROSCon. Previous ROSCon Diversity Scholarship recipients are not eligible to re-apply.
Review Process
The ROSCon Diversity Committee reviews applicants according to the following criteria:
- How will the applicant increase the diversity of ROSCon?
- How will the applicant contribute to ROSCon through their attendance?
- Is the applicant engaged with the ROS community?
The applicants who are reviewed most favorably, subject to available funding, are offered scholarships. We always receive more good applications that we are able to fund. The most common reason for a less favorable review is lack of effort shown in the application, such that we are unable to meaningfully review the candidate. Please take the time to completely and thoughtfully complete the scholarship application.
Application Process
To apply for the ROSCon Diversity Scholarship interested applicants should use the Google form below. Applicants will need to include their name and contact information, some basic demographic data, and a brief narrative section about their participation in the ROS community.
We recommend interested developers submit their application as soon as possible. The deadline for the Diversity Scholarship application is June 11th, 2023.
📝 Apply Here for ROSCon Diversity Scholarships 📝
Organizers
Organizing Committee
General Co-Chairs
Vanessa Yamzon Orsi (Open Source Robotics Foundation)
Geoff Biggs (Open Source Robotics Foundation)
Organizing Committee Members
Ryan Gariepy (Clearpath Robotics)
Brian Gerkey (Intrinsic.ai)
Tully Foote (Intrinsic.ai)
Communications Chair
Kat Scott (Intrinsic.ai)
Past Events
ROSCon has been held annually since 2012. If you’d like to know more we have archives of all the past programs with recordings of the talks and most of the slides. The sites can be found at the locations below.
- ROSCon 2022 Kyoto, Japan
- ROS World 2021, Virtual
- ROS World 2020, Virtual
- ROSCon 2019 Macau
- ROSCon 2018 Madrid, Spain
- ROSCon 2017 Vancouver, Canada
- ROSCon 2016 Seoul, Korea
- ROSCon 2015 Hamburg, Germany
- ROSCon 2014 Chicago, USA
- ROSCon 2013 Stuttgart, Germany
- ROSCon 2012 St. Paul, USA
Code of Conduct
All attendees, speakers, sponsors and volunteers at our conference are required to agree with the following code of conduct. Organisers will enforce this code throughout the event. We expect cooperation from all participants to help ensure a safe environment for everybody.
The Quick Version
Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate for any conference venue, including talks, workshops, parties, Twitter and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the conference organizers.
The Less Quick Version
Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion, technology choices, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy. In particular, sponsors should not use sexualised images, activities, or other material. Booth staff (including volunteers) should not use sexualized clothing/uniforms/costumes, or otherwise create a sexualised environment.
If a participant engages in harassing behavior, the conference organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender or expulsion from the conference with no refund.
If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact a member of conference staff immediately. Conference staff can be identified as they’ll be wearing badges as well as there will be staff at the registration desk.
Conference staff will be happy to help participants contact hotel/venue security or local law enforcement, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.
We expect participants to follow these rules at conference and workshop venues and conference-related social events.